Community Calendar and Information Hub

The WhatcomTalk Events Calendar shares things to do around Whatcom County including Bellingham, Ferndale, Lynden, Blaine and beyond. Find fun activities and adventures throughout the region on our comprehensive events calendar. Have an event that isn’t listed? Click the green “Post your Event” button and our editors will review and approve within two business days.

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May – June 2024 May – Jun 2024
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May
14
Tue
An Evening with Michele Norris, Our Hidden Conversations @ Old City Hall
Tickets
May 14 @ 7:00 pm
An Evening with Michele Norris, Our Hidden Conversations @ Old City Hall

Village Books is thrilled to welcome award-winning journalist Michele Norris to Bellingham as she shares Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity, a book that came from her decade-long work at The Race Card Project.

Peabody Award–winning journalist Michele Norris offers a transformative dialogue on race and identity in America, unearthed through her decade-long work at The Race Card Project. The prompt seemed simple: Race. Your Thoughts. Six Words. Please Send. The answers, though, have been challenging and complicated. In the twelve years since award-winning journalist Michele Norris first posed that question, over half a million people have submitted their stories to The Race Card Project inbox. The stories are shocking in their depth and candor, spanning the full spectrum of race, ethnicity, identity, and class. Even at just six words, the micro-essays can pack quite a punch, revealing, fear, pain, triumph, and sometimes humor. Responses such as: You’re Pretty for a Black girl. White privilege, enjoy it, earned it. Lady, I don’t want your purse. My ancestors massacred Indians near here. Urban living has made me racist. I’m only Asian when it’s convenient. Many go even further than just six words, submitting backstories, photos, and heirlooms: a collection much like a scrapbook of American candor you rarely get to see. Our Hidden Conversations is a unique compilation of stories, richly reported essays, and photographs providing a window into America during a tumultuous era. This powerful book offers an honest, if sometimes uncomfortable, conversation about race and identity, permitting us to eavesdrop on deep-seated thoughts, private discussions, and long submerged memories. The breadth of this work came as a surprise to Norris. For most of the twelve years she has collected these stories, many were submitted by white respondents. This unexpected panorama provides a rare 360-degree view of how Americans see themselves and one another. Our Hidden Conversations reminds us that even during times of great division, honesty, grace, and a willing ear can provide a bridge toward empathy and maybe even understanding.

Michele Norris is one of America’s most trusted voices in journalism, earning several honors over a long career, including Peabody, Emmy, Dupont, and Goldsmith awards. She is a columnist for The Washington Post Opinion Section, the host of the Audible Original Podcast, Your Mama’s Kitchen, and from and from 2002 to 2012 she was a cohost of NPR’s All Things Considered. Norris is also the founding director of The Race Card Project, a Peabody Award–winning narrative archive where people around the world share their reflections on identity—in just six words. Her first book, The Grace of Silence, was named one of the best books of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Kansas City Star. Before joining NPR, Norris spent almost ten years as a reporter for ABC News covering politics, policy, and the dynamics of social change. Early in her career, she also worked as a staff writer for The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times.

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Categories: Author Talk Tags: #AmericanPolitics #authorevents
May
25
Sat
Orcas of the Salish Sea: A Crash Course in Ecology @ Chuckanut Center
Tickets
May 25 @ 7:00 pm – 9:30 pm
Orcas of the Salish Sea: A Crash Course in Ecology @ Chuckanut Center

Join Jazmen Yoder (Northwest Natura) & Madelaine Katz for an ecology crash course complete with captivating storytelling and bounteous wisdom-sharing on Southern Resident and Transient Killer Whales, and the Salish Sea Bioregion.

In this course you will learn:

Salish Sea natural history, including human history and the interconnectedness of species on land and sea.

Orca symbolism and lore within the Coast Salish region

Morphological traits, behaviors, and social structures of Orcas

Salmon species basic life history and phenology

Ecological roles, impacts, and new facts about Southern Resident and Transient Killer Whales

To hear and discern different Orca vocalizations

How to ID individual orcas by their unique features

How to support Orca conservation efforts

Tips for whale watching (where to go, what to look for, how to ID individuals, and more).

This course will be co-led by Madelaine Katz, a nature educator and student of the Salish Sea, and Jazmen Yoder, outdoor educator, naturalist, and founder of Northwest Natura.

The entire class will take place indoors at the Chuckanut Center near Fairhaven in Whatcom County, WA. The Chuckanut Center is heated and has access to facilities including a bathroom, full kitchen, and drinking water.

***** Please register via the website.

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Categories: Education Local History Workshops, Classes and Lectures Tags: ecology marine ecology orca pnw salish
Jun
22
Sat
Tidepools, Lichens & Ferns with Northwest Natura @ Deception Pass State Park
Tickets
Jun 22 @ 10:30 am – 1:00 pm
Tidepools, Lichens & Ferns with Northwest Natura @ Deception Pass State Park

Join botanist and naturalist, Jazmen Yoder on a walk at one of the most beautiful coastal parks in the Pacific Northwest. There will be an emphasis on learning about creatures in the tidepools, lichens and ferns, but you will learn a lot about other plants, fungi, edible seaweeds, and coast ecology through exploration of tidepools at low tide. Bring your camera, come for the knowledge, and stay for the views! This is a unique field trip offering you’ll remember forever.

Space is limited. Please register via the website.

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Categories: Education Outdoor Recreation Workshops, Classes and Lectures Tags: ecology Exploration lichen tidepools
May – June 2024 May – Jun 2024